I don’t know about you but I have weeks where I feel like I am literally in a boxing ring with sin. Monday I won, Tuesday I lost, Wednesday sin won, Thursday I won and so on and so on. Other weeks I know nothing can touch me. Christ died for my sins and I have been delivered and that’s it!

This week has been a week of fighting guilt and shame and condemnation. Sin seems to be getting stronger in my life, getting the upper hand. I have been delivered for crying out loud but sin seems so strong!! But it also feels like I am in an unfair battle. There is a part of me that wants to sin. It deceives me and betrays me to the enemy. I understand more and more what Paul was speaking about now. My desire is to be free, to get closer to God more and more but he betrays me. I betray me!!!

With all those things going on within me The Lord showed me something!

“For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able [immediately] to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering]. Hebrews 2:18

Jesus came in a form of a man, was tested and tried but didn’t succumb to sin. He humbled Himself so as a High Priest He could identify with our struggles!

He understands everything we go through and I mean everything!

He doesn’t sit by and watch us in our suffering, No!! Instead He comes to our rescue.

The word says, He IMMEDIATELY runs to our cries!! He IMMEDIATELY runs to assist and relieve us.

If you need help cry out to Him! He wants to help you. He understands what you are going through. The fact is this, we are all exposed to suffering but in your suffering don’t remain silent. In my suffering I was silent and that is when guilt and shame and all those other lies penetrated me but they can’t win if you open your mouth. The enemy cannot win if you call on the One who saves!!! His love for us is so deep and cannot be fathomed. He is our Savior……Amen

Do you think there are some instances where God is to blame for some of the
things that have not worked out in your life?

I have had to deal with these questions in my life. There have been times I
have blamed God. These are hard questions but questions which need to be
answered. As I had these questions God spoke to me through Joshua.
He had just come from the defeat of Jericho. God had given them a big victory. The
next town they had to attack was called Ai. It was a small town. Joshua 7:3
says,

And they returned to Joshua and said to him, Let not all the men go up; but
let about two thousand or three thousand go up and attack Ai; do not make
the whole army toil up there, for they of Ai are few.

It was supposed to be a sure victory but it wasn’t. They were defeated!
They had never experienced defeat before. They even experienced death which
was a new thing! Joshua 7:5 says,

And the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, for they chased them
from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and slew them at the descent. And
the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

To top that off, all the surrounding nations would now try and attack
Israel. They heard about all the miraculous things God did for them but if
they heard about the defeat at Ai they would surely come to destroy them!
Joshua acted quickly. He went up to God. Joshua 7:6-8;

Then Joshua rent his clothes and lay on the earth upon his face before
the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they
put dust on their heads.

Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why have You brought this people over the
Jordan at all only to give us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?
Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!

O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned to flee before their
enemies!

Joshua blamed God! There is no other way to put it. I am not going to try
and be euphemistic here. He blamed God…..But I understand, I have been
there. When things have gone so bad that you feel like God has abandoned
you, when you feel like God deliberately did something to hurt you. Have
you been there, or maybe you ARE there! I want you to know,

Joshua was wrong! God was not to blame for what happened. God did not want Israel to
be defeated. That was never in His plan. God is a good God who only has
good in store for us. The fault was in Achan. He went against what God had
told him to do. (Joshua 7:11)

This story raises a very important point. God is not to be blamed for what goes
wrong in our lives. His plan for us is ALL good. ALL GOOD!!! Yes that may entail
trials, and tribulation, and tests and so forth but God is not the author
of the pain, brokenness, disappointment we face in life. He has a destiny
for us. He has a plan for our lives and that plan is good. HE CAN BE
TRUSTED!!!

I don’t write this for the sake of writing a good post. This is what I believe. God is not

to blame. His plan for my life is good. Trials and tests will come but I must remember

that He is good and He is with me every step of the way. That goes for you as well.

No matter what you going through, He is with you and it is not His fault. He loves you

I have been going through a testing time this couple of weeks. The year started off well and it seemed like it was going to carry on like that but it didn’t. Things happened and everything is different now. I have some major life changing decisions I have to make. In fact as I look back in my life I see all the hard times I have been through. There were times when there seemed like there was no answer. I had nothing. No plan B, nothing but God! He was all I had and He came through. A few years ago our economy crashed. Food became scarce, inflation sky rocketed, people didn’t know what to do. Imagine going to the supermarket and finding nothing on the shelves! Imagine going to a coffee shop but finding out they didn’t have flour to bake anything? Everything came to a standstill. The average person’s job was to find any place that was selling any kind of food. People had money but couldn’t buy anything! Those were really testing times!!

Just one of the many pictures you would of seen in 2007-2008. No food in the country! But God came through for us!

But even in those very testing times God came through!!! He was there for me. He provided for me and cared for me.
Then there was the time when I had no job. I had no income what so ever and until today I don’t know how I survived. God helped me!

With all that said, why does God allow us to go through hard times and suffering? You may be going through some hard times and wondering the same thing. Well, let us look at the word for the answer.

We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally – not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead. And He did it, rescued us from certain doom. And He’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. 2 Corinthians 1:8-11

Did you see that? Paul was going through some really trying times even to a point where he thought he was not going to make it. It felt like he was on death row! But as he was going through all that something happened. He saw something! He realized he was supposed to trust God and not in himself. He came to a realization that he was not the answer to his problem, God was!

Is this why God allows us to go through hard times and suffering, so we can trust Him? Does He want us to realize, He is the only One who can save us?
God does not want us relying on our own strength because it’s not enough and because there is only one God and one Savior. Our strength is not strength at all. We are not strong and wise and perfect. We need God.

What is the “take home”then?

God allows us to go through pain and suffering because He wants to show Himself strong. He wants us to come to the realization that our strength is not enough. He does not want us trusting in our own ability! Instead, He wants us to look to Him and trust Him….. God bless

People have tried to answer the age old question of why bad things happen to good people. That is a hectically broad question to answer but I would like to shed some light on the answer. The first thing we need to realize is, the world is inherently broken. We live in a broken world and sin has been decaying it more and more. The world broke when Adam and Eve sinned and has continued ever since. We blame God at times and then the devil at other times (he is to blame for a LOT) but we just need to come to a realization that we live in a broken world. But what are we to do since we live in a broken world?

We are to be thankful to God for what we have been given. The very fact that we are breathing today is a miracle only God could do. Do you thank God for been able to live another day? In whatever situation you find yourself be thankful. Be grateful for the friends you have and the family you have. God has been good even though it may not of seemed like it. You may not be where you are but thank Him. It’s by His grace that you are where you are and not in a worse situation. Our lives are so fleeting, so short. Make it count now!!! Not a year from now or ten years from now but NOW!What really matters in life? John the Baptist had an idea. Talking to the pharisees he had this to say,

Do you think a little water on your snake skins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as your father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire. Matthew 3:7-10 (The Message)

We live in a broken world but John is saying that we got to make our lives count for God. For that to happen we got to change our lives. We have been focused on the wrong things. It’s time to focus on the things that really matter. A lot of people pursue titles and think that’s life but it’s not.

A life that is making a difference in people’s lives is what is important. Has there been a progression in your life? Has it been getting greener and greener? Being thankful is so important. There is power when we are thankful in the midst of hardship. Learn to be thankful everyday. Find something to be thankful for. Have a thankful heart always. In a broken world we can’t be familiar with the people God has given us. Familiarity is a killer and it will rob of us of God’s best!!! We cannot afford to be familiar.

In this broken world God has called us to be light. He wants our lives to count. I don’t know why bad things happen to good people but I hope this shed some light on the answer.

I don’t know anyone in this life who has never had a bad thing happen to them. We live in a broken world where bad things happen and we as children of God are not exempt from it. In this lifetime there will be suffering and pain but where we err a lot of the time is we blame God or a friend, or a system or the government, or the wife, husband and the list carries on instead of looking at ourselves first.
As children of God we need to know in our heart that God has only the best for us. His plan for us is good! God does not have any evil plans for you. His plan for you is not to be sick or poor or lonely!!! He has a good plan for you.
Let us take a look at Joshua because he had to learn that God’s plan for him was good. In Joshua 7 we read the story of Ai. This was a small city compared to Jericho. Joshua had just defeated Jericho and now they had to face Ai. It was so small that Joshua sent 3000 men to fight! Ai was supposed to be a walk in the park but it wasn’t. Instead they got defeated and to make it worse other surrounding cities would attack them and defeat them because of what Ai did!!! This was a problem and look at how Joshua responds.

Joshua said, “Oh, oh, oh…Master, God. Why did You insist on bringing this people across the Jordon? To make us victims of the Amorites? To wipe us out? Why didn’t we just settle down on the east side of the Jordon? Oh, Master, what can I say after this, after Israel has been run off by it’s enemies? When the Canaanites and all the others living here get wind of this, they will gang up on us and make short work of us – and then how will You keep up Your reputation?Joshua 7:7-9

Can you believe him? “Make us victims”, “wipe us out”, “gang up on us”….! These were the words used and a lot more. Joshua totally missed it here. From trusting in God, he went to fear! He forgot that God’s plan is always good. As much as I would like to sit here and criticize him I know I have prayed the same prayer and thought the same thoughts!! Have you? When things go wrong we look to other people to blame. It must be that person, we tell ourselves but we can’t keep on thinking like that. We need to trust the fact that GOD is GOOD. He will never do anything to harm us. He loves us.
The reason the Israelite s failed to defeat Ai wasn’t because God did something wrong, it wasn’t because He liked to confuse them, or it wasn’t because God liked seeing them fail!!!!
They were defeated because some one man sinned! Achan failed to listen to God and disobeyed Him.
When things go wrong who do we look to? Is the first instinct to look outside of ourselves?? That needs to change. God is not to blame for your problems. God is not unfair and cruel and evil. He is good. God is not the problem, you are! It’s you and me!! God wants the best for you but how often do we mess it up. Before you blame God look inside you. Start with yourself.

Is God to blame for the evil in the world and the pain and the suffering? No He is not. Let us trust in His goodness. He is good. Do you believe that???